Droit au But

This weekend was super-full: starting out with Maria's birthday. We had a little party at our house for her Friday night where everyone cooked something, and I had THE BEST cherry chocolate cake of my life that our German friend Maraika made. Pauline's friend from Paris, Mathilde, came in town so we got to see her again. Saturday the weather was gorgeous again: just over 60 degrees and sunny, blue skies. So I put on my big sunglasses (in case I saw any of my students I didn't want them to recognize me), then headed out for a nice stroll to the Pharo park. This park is built around Napoleon III's Pharo Palace that he built next to one of the forts overlooking the ocean and the Vieux Port, but never actually lived in it. So I had every intention of walking up there, reading a book in the sun by the sea, but then I walked past Rue St Ferreol..........[ominous music].....the shopping district.

The huge after-Christmas sales don't start until January 11th here, so everyone is going stir-crazy, waiting for these MEGA---I mean, like -50% everything---sales, then once the 11th hits it is a complete mob scene in this part of town. In french you would say, "c'est le bazaar". So I'm on my way to a tranquil sit by the sea, when the "soldes" start calling my name. It takes me 2 hours to buy 2 t-shirts in Zara, the store is so crowded. Never again, I tell myself.....haha we'll see.

Saturday night we went out again for Maria's birthday, but last night, Sunday, I attended my first OM match! that's Olympique de Marseille, the football team here. I mean soccer...you get it. We scored these tickets from a friend of a friend of....I have no idea, but it turns out our seats are in the "ultra" section. like the super-fans. There's a guy with a microphone in front of us leading songs and chants, at the beginning of the game we all held up different color papers and made the OM symbol on our inzone, and there's CONFETTI. everywhere. With all this confetti and singing going on, I'm curious to see what will happen when someone makes a goal. OM scores and all hell breaks loose: these guys are so happy they start moshing. I mean, head-butting, punching, body-slamming, throwing each other to the ground....then they start singing again and throwing confetti at each other until something else happens. They even had a 2 year old boy with them; conditioning him to be the next microphone guy, I guess.

In the end, OM won and we had a great time (nobody got injured in the mosh, at least). They had a big fireworks show in the stadium after, which made me happy since I didn't get fireworks on New Years. As for the difference between this and an American football game, I can't say I prefer one or the other. I will say, however, that there's something nostalgic about cheerleaders, marching bands, fight songs, and yelling the word "TOUCHDOWN!"

Hellooooo 2011

Well the holidays were lovely in Bordeaux, Niort, and Paris but they were COLD! So instead of a White Christmas like everyone back home I was stuck with super-cold rainy and clear days alternating through the 10 days. In Paris, though, it was pretty puch a steady overcast and cold (now I remember why Versailles was so depressing). But despite the weather we managed to keep the holiday cheer: in Bordeaux we stayed in a cute bed and breakfast owned by a man named Jean-Pierre and his fat gray cat, Chanel. Chanel ate breakfast with us every morning. There in Bordeaux we enjoyed the Christmas market, beautiful Christmas lights, and went to the cinema to see Harry Potter in English. On Christmas Eve we made it out to a small town called Saint Emilion, which is famous for its wine; bottles usually run around 30-40 euros in the rest of the country.

Then after Bordeaux we went to Niort, chez Brita to relax for a few days. There, in Niort, I found a spectacular Karaoke bar called Uncle Sam full of old French townies singing 80s love ballads in French. It was hands-down the most eventful night of my holiday (yes, even beating New Years). So there is this overweight woman in her 30s spilling out of a black satin boustier, drunk as a sailor on leave in Amsterdam. She keeps going behind the bar and pretending to pour drinks for people; lecturing me about how horrible men are and that I should never trust them. All the while, some old lesbians in the back are wailing into a microphone some love ballad, while on the karaoke screen some bizarre video of a man on a motorcycle is playing on a loop. (BTW, the karaoke machine was so old it used records. Not CDs or even 8-tracks, records.) So I pop outside to answer my phone, when an extremely drunk woman in her late 30s comes barreling out the door, then starts crying about her boyfriend. Boustier women comes out to console her, both of them leaning on me (I am, at this moment, very uncomfortable). Apparently, her boyfriend was cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend, so the woman says, "I know! Ill tell him Im pregnant" boustier woman: "thats a great idea, honey, you show him what-for!" It is this moment that I seize the opportunity to slip inside. To close the night, Brita and I sang "Come Together" by the Beatles (as the only English songs they had were by the Beatles), bowed our goodbyes, then woke up early the next morning for Paris.

Paris wasnt terribly eventful; we went shopping, saw the lights on the Champs-Elysées and the windows of the Galeries Lafayette (Broadway show themed this year!!), then ended up in Montmartre for the New Year where we watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle at midnight. Somehow, that will never compare to watching the ball drop in Times Square.

This morning I showed up to work and--surprise surprise--the professor neglected to tell me he wasnt at school. So now Im killing time, about to break this French keyboard because all the letters are in the wrong places and I still cant figure out how to stroke an apostrophe. In any case, Bonne Année to everyone, and Meilleures Veaux!

It's the holiday season!

Hello and happy holidays!! Today was the last day of classes before Christmas break, so the students have been a little restless this week...but so have I. I'm leaving in 4 days to go to Bordeaux with Brita (fellow French major from FU) where we will spend a relaxing Christmas holiday in a little bed and breakfast with a bottle of vin rouge. I've read that Bordeaux has the best Christmas market in France outside (of course) Strasbourg. So after all that relaxing and vin chaud in wine country we're headed off to Paris for New Years! I'm so excited it's my first big city New Year's celebration; I can't wait to see the lights on the Eiffel Tower. OH---but I have to back up to things I've done leading up to the holidays! I went to Nice a while back with my friend Jon who lives in La Ciotat, where the first movie was ever filmed ("Train arriving at the La Ciotat train station" by the Lumière Brothers. It's a train arriving at the station platform, how original.) Anyway we went to Nice and enjoyed the warm weather, saw the Matisse museum, wandered around the gorgeous flower market, and stayed at the BEST hostel I've ever experienced, the Saint Exupéry Villa. Not only are the towels and breakfast free, but they have a shuttle that takes you in and out of town because it's literally a villa in the hills of Nice.

Then a few weeks later I enjoyed FOUR Thanksgiving dinners! Ali hosted a spectacular dinner with a huge turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and (my mouth is watering) pumpkin pie. All of the italians, french, and other internationals there thought all of us americans were crazy, gorging on this huge meal, but we were in heaven. Then a couple nights later four of us got together at Ali's again for a leftover party. Thanksgiving number three was at my apartment on actual Thanksgiving: my roommates and I did a raclette dinner (melted cheese on potatoes and charcuterie)--so I got a French Thanksgiving in. Then the fourth was the next night in Miramas at Kathleen and Darius' house in the country. We all had a big, traditional meal then (as tradition would have it) we all fell asleep on whatever sofa or bed we could find. Then I ran 3 miles every day for the next week.

It's been fun introducing French people to american Christmas, though...most of them have no idea who Rudolph or Frosty are...OH funny story that happened totally outside of any Christmas conversation in my apartment: we were keeping a kitten for a friend in our apartment for a few days (her name is Giselle and tore up the entire apartment but was precious all the same)--and I was talking about Shannon's cat, Tinkerbell, to Pauline (my roommate from Paris). So Pauline goes, "tinker bell? wha----oh! I know!" then she sings: "tinker bells, tinker bells, tinker all the way!" I was rolling on the kitchen floor laughing. What's also difficult is discussing Christmas with a bunch of Muslim students who don't even celebrate it (not to mention the strict separation of church and state here). So those conversations usually end up about soccer, the Marseille soccer team OM, and/or shopping. Oh, teenagers.

SO now I'm just counting down the days until I leave for Bordeaux and baking mountains of Christmas cookies for my roommates! I included a picture of our cute little tree in the salon...Happy Holidays to everyone back in the States; missing you all so much this Christmas season!!

Love and Blessings

Getting my history on

So because of the strike, not only are the streets littered with garbage, stench, and disease-ridden creatures, but most schools are also closed. No really, the students are on strike too: I went to my middle school for the first time yesterday and the middle school students were setting dumpsters on fire. and the dumpsters are pretty big right now considering they're overflowing. My high school has been shut down for the moment because students blocked the entrance yesterday throwing eggs and firecrackers at anyone who came near. SO: instead of going to work, I have been enriching my knowledge of my new city.

What used to be a Greek port, Massalia (now Marseille) is home to a number of great archaeological finds. which I just found out today at the Natural History Museum and the Marseille History Museum (which is conveniently located in the mall, just under the Galeries Lafayette). And get this: I was walking around the Palais Longchamp park today and just paid the 1 euro to get into the Natural History Museum and out of the cold, not expecting to see anything but stuffed dead animals and fossils of mammoth teeth, when I stumbled upon the Venus of Brassempouy! That probably doesn't mean anything to most of you, but if anyone took prehistoric art history with Marie Watkins, you will know that that little 3 and a half centimeter sculpture is a big deal. She belongs to a museum in Paris, but is put on display other places and I got to see her today!

Now my next great find today was at the Marseille History Museum: the best preserved hull of a 6th century ship in the world. Yeah I thought it was pretty cool. They freeze dried the wood and they only keep it under blacklight in a sealed off room with 3 tinted windows because it's so fragile. Then after I was tired of trying to squint to see the boat, I explored these roman ruins outside in the Jardin des Vestiges (also just outside the mall). Except there were a lot of really shabby, mean-looking cats stalking around so I didn't want to stay long.

OH--one more fun fact: the very first cafe ever in France was opened in Marseille in 1680-something. I guess that makes sense, since Marseille is the oldest city in France.

PS this photo is actually a fake pirate ship in the Vieux Port that has a restaurant inside it

Celebrity Encounter

Marseille is feeling more like home now...yesterday I went to IKEA and got a few things to cozy up my apartment (namely, a bedspread because the blanket my proprietor gave me is really janky). I finally got a schedule from my high school to start work this coming week...and SCORE I might only be working 3 days a week! So up until now I've just been on vacation, really. Then after less than a week of working I go on vacation for the Toussaint holiday (it's like fall break in France) until November 4. It's true, the French really don't work ever. But I NEED to share this awesome story with everyone: last Friday night I was out at a club called Trolleybus (I giggle every time I say it in a french accent...) with some French friends and saw these 8 foot tall guys speaking in veerrrrry american english. Then one starts trying to talk to me and I tell him I'm from the States. Turns out these guys are the HARLEM GLOBE TROTTERS. That's right. They were doing a show on Saturday night in Marseille and I was lucky enough to party with them on Friday! I felt like a celebrity rockstar for a few hours hanging out with them....until it was too far past my bedtime to care anymore how cool they were. So there's my first celebrity encounter in the south of France...let's hope the next one is James Marsden. Or Patrick Stewart. Or pretty much any gozillionaire with a boat (NOT Forrest Gump...)

For now I'm looking forward to starting at my schools--they're giving us a welcome lunch on Monday, then I actually start on Wednesday--then Grandma's coming a week after that! Be on the lookout for some postcards...if I don't have your address then you won't get one. If you want one, send me your address!

OH and here's a photo of my roommates at the beach: (from left) Esther, [me], Maria, Ana, and Julia (except she's not our roommate)

Moved In

So I finally made it into my apartment...this week has been full of paperwork, logistical stuff, immigration offices...and it's only Monday! I had some trouble on Friday evening when my credit card was eaten by an ATM-----never use a Caisse Espargne ATM!!-----but thank you Wachovia for sending my replacement so quickly! I just got it in the mail this morning.

BUT my apartment is really charming (minus the screaming baby that lives below us, but I can live with that; I have to be up early for work anyway). My roommates are two Spanish girls, one from Seville and one from Barcelona, and Esther from Boston. It's kind of frustrating living in a city like Marseille because it isn't safe to go out on my own at night, but we're doing a pretty good job of going out together, or other assistants walking each other home after it's dark. It's strange...I don't think I've ever felt so blonde. Most Marseillais are north african immigrants, so I kind of stick out around here. That's why walking around alone at night is so dangerous for me in particular.

I don't have internet right now, so I have to go to McDonalds every time I want to check my email...I don't think I've been to McDonalds so often in my life (not counting 2am drive thru runs). But I really am that gross american that goes to macdo's all the time! Hopefully, we should be getting the wireless in our apt hooked up by Wednesday.......hopefully. There's so much paperwork and forms flying around right now that it's hard to keep things straight.

Man, I miss everybody so much...the other night I went up to Notre Dame (it's up on a big hill in Marseille) and watched the sunset. it was so gorgeous I wanted everyone to watch it with everyone I missed! In any case, I'm usually on Skype at macdo's in the evenings (well, my evening time) so chat me up!

Les Calanques

If you guys have never heard of the calanques in the south of France, then you are missing out! I made friends the other night with a guy that works at our hostel who told me that if I wanted to go to a real beach in Marseille, then I had to see these. So we (Michele has come to visit me for a few days, and the two English folks I met) took a bus toward the beach, then hiked down a mountain to this fantastic spot and swam in the mer. This photo is of the calanque we went to, la calanque de sugiton. And you think that the colors in these touristy photos are doctored somehow, but they're totally real. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Tonight Miche and I are going to a french play at a local theatre (apparently the theatre in Marseille is pretty popular); it's a comedie about a common marseillais divorce. I hope I can understand most of it! But I'm getting my bearings in this city more and more every day. I can't get over the fact that I get to stay here!